There are a wide variety of applications where seed need to be stored, where the seed can be protected and preserved, and at some time later be easily, efficiently, accurately identified and/or possibly individually selected, retrieved or discharged from one or more containers for reconfiguration into another container based upon the presence or absence of at least one advantageous property associated with the seed.
One notable example of this can be found in research and development directed toward identifying and perpetuating advantageous seed properties. For instance, plant researchers often group seed, into specific groups. In the case of seed, seed portions (e.g., a portion, sample or chip from the seed) may be removed from the seed for testing, what remains are viable seed that may be stored collectively or individually to protect against degradation or harm and to maintain viability. The information learned from testing the seed portions may indicate if the remaining, viable portion of a particular seed has the desired advantageous properties as a result of a biological trait, a genetic trait, a phenotypic trait, a morphological trait, or pedigree. Furthermore, the information learned from testing the seed portion can be linked with the individual seed from which it originated (viable seed portion) using an indexing system to correlate the two seed parts. Thus, by comparing a seed selection criterion with the information known about the seed, the remaining viable seed portion may be accurately identified, recovered, dispensed from its container and reconfigured into another container for storage with other viable seed portions meeting the same or other seed selection criterion.
A need has therefore been identified in the art for a more efficient and high throughput apparatus, method and system for reconfiguring any seed, seed part or seed portion, whether viable or not, from one or more containers, having been identified with the desired qualities, advantageous properties or genetics, into another container to provide a single container with seed having the desired qualities, advantageous properties and/or genetics